Transfer: Marek, Karoline
by TyrantWaffles
Summary: Karoline is a German transfer CCG agent who eventually befriends Kaneki Ken while she attends University. She also befriends Suzuya Juuzou while working with the CCG. After bearing witness to Rabbit's attack on unarmed CCG employees and Kureo Mado's speech about a child and mother ghoul, Karo starts to question who the real monsters are. Spoilers for Tokyo Ghoul & Tokyo Ghoul:re
1. Chapter 1

Kaneki Ken was my friend. We were never as close as he and Hide, as they had a long history and I was just a new foreign student from Germany. Hide and Kaneki helped me out and offered me friendship.

But I didn't come to Japan just to study, I came because I was called in by the CCG. When Kaneki was hospitalized, I knew it wasn't just some insane chick that went a little knife-happy. I knew Kaneki had been attacked by a ghoul and he was one of very few lucky ones to have survived an assault.

I knew this because I recognized that kind of violence. I knew because I had once been cornered by a ghoul and almost killed. But I survived because of the CCG agent that rescued me. Once I recovered and was out of the hospital, I enrolled in the Academy and eventually became the investigator I am today. Well, it has only been a few years since I graduated.

I still didn't consider myself fluent in Japanese even though I'd been living here for almost a year. Kaneki had been helping me read and write almost every weekend that neither of us had to work. Sometimes I would stop by Anteiku around the time his shifts would end when he wasn't closing and he would tutor me while we both drank our own coffees.

"Hey, Kaneki-san?" I said during one of these sessions. I'm sure my accent was very noticeable. He hummed in question, taking a sip of coffee and looking away from the news channel on TV, back at me. We had both paused to listen to it talk about a new finding about ghouls in the 20th district.

"What's your opinion on ghouls?" I asked, honestly curious. Kaneki knew that I worked for the CCG and I had told him a little about the experience I had that led me to them, but he always seemed indifferent whenever the topic of ghouls arose.

Kaneki looked down at the table, seeming uncomfortable. "I guess…I'd feel sorry for them. They can only eat humans, right? They can't eat regular food? So it's probably kinda scary that in order to survive, they risk being killed by investigators and stuff…Why do you ask, Karo-san?"

I twirled a piece of my brown hair and frowned. Why did I ask? I was there when Rabbit attacked and killed one of my co-workers. I didn't know him well, but he had been friendly to me. He had invited me out to dinner with him, his partner, and the famous Koutarou Amon that night when he heard I was still having difficulties settling in. They all decided to walk me home, but we hadn't gotten very far before we were attacked. Koutarou and I had both forgone our quinques that night.

Luckily, Koutarou's partner, Kureo Mado showed up in time to save the rest of us. But ever since that night, when Mado talked about Rabbit getting revenge for the child-ghoul, my resolve that ghouls were all monsters had faltered. Mado had killed a mother ghoul and was /excited/ to kill the daughter? That just didn't make sense to me.

I took a sip of my mocha and looked at Kaneki. I considered him to be my closest friend, seeing as I spent more time with him, than anyone else. I could talk to him about almost anything.

I inhaled deeply and finally replied, "One of my coworkers was attacked and killed by a ghoul called "Rabbit." I was there during the attack, but I didn't have a weapon to defend myself or the others with me, but one of my superiors came by and rescued us." I paused and started to play with my fingers. I was nervous telling the story. I felt like someone would overhear us. "My coworker…he wasn't an investigator. He never did any harm to ghouls—his job was just paperwork. But even so, he was murdered…" I sighed, trying to organize my thoughts. "But my superior talked to—or taunted, rather—Rabbit and one of the things he mentioned was a mother and daughter ghoul. He talked about Rabbit being there to avenge the death of the mother and being a friend of the daughter." I must have looked upset at this point, because Kaneki placed his hand over mine. "He talked about being excited to have them both in his qunique collection." I shook my head. "But why would he take pleasure in splitting apart families?! He always talks about how ghouls are heartless demons, but what the hell does that make him?"

I paused to get better control over my breathing. Kaneki was kind enough to wait for me to finish talking. I really appreciated him for that. "My parents were both killed by ghouls, so I can see why he would hate them, but that doesn't justify him killing a child, right? Even if it were a ghoul, it's still a child." I looked to Kaneki for his input and squeezed his hand a bit. He was smiling sadly at me.

"I think," he began, "that you have a good head on your shoulders, Karo-san. I think you're right. I don't think all ghouls are bad. I think that humans and ghouls don't really understand each other as well as we could."

I smiled at him, relieved to get my frustration off my chest and ecstatic to know I wasn't alone in my thoughts. "Can I hug you?" I asked. When he sputtered to come up with a "Yes," I practically jumped out of my chair and gave him the biggest bear-hug I could muster.

"Thank you so much for listening to me, Kaneki-san," I told him as I let him go.

He smiled back at me—genuinely this time. "You're welcome, Karo-san. You know, since I call you by your first name, you can call me Ken…"

I beamed at him. "Thank you so much, Ken-san."

It was later that day that I realized I might have developed a crush on Kaneki Ken.

When Kaneki Ken went missing, I tried to pretend it didn't devastate me. When I went to check on the café he worked at, it was recovering from a break in. Kirishima Touka, one of his coworkers, seemed angry at me for coming by, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe she blamed me for his disappearance, somehow?

Months passed and I had to focus on work more and more. Mado Kureo was dead, so Amon Koutarou was partner-less for some time. Since I had never been assigned a partner, since the office believed I was still too young, I was often grouped as a sort of third-wheel to other partner groups as needed, Mado and Amon included. They put me with him and once Mado Akira showed up, those two became my default partnership. Before, I was most often grouped with Suzuya Juuzou and Shinohara Yukinori.

At first, I was annoyed at Juuzou. He was clearly younger than me, with less experience, and still had his own partner. But later, I realized that he was in a completely different league than me and I understood why he was a special case.

I reigned in my jealousy and set it aside as I befriended Juuzou. He was such a nutcase, but there were times in which he could be so sweet or wise. He was the first to notice my change in demeanor—at least the first to point it out to me—after Ken's disappearance.

"Karo-chan," he called to me after lunch. Shinohara wasn't with him. I waited for him to catch up to me. "You've been making sad faces lately. Did your boyfriend or girlfriend break up with you? I can hurt them back for you."

I smiled a little at him. "No, Juuzou-san. I don't even have a boyfriend or girlfriend to break up with, but thank you for the offer. I really do appreciate it."

"If nobody broke up with you, then what happened?" he asked, seeming to be genuinely curious.

I sighed and averted my eyes from his for a second. "To be honest, I don't really know what happened. That's kind of the problem." Juuzou looked at me in confusion, so I clarified. "One of my close friends is missing and no one knows where he is. I'm afraid something bad happened to him."

I could tell Juuzou was thinking as he asked, "What's his name?"

"Ken—Kaneki Ken," I answered. I always get the order of names confused.

Juuzou raised an eyebrow at my falter. "Well, if I ever meet Kaneki-san, I'll be sure to beat him up for making you worry. And then I'll bring him to you."

I smiled genuinely at him and asked if I could give him a hug. "Thank you, Juuzou-san. Don't ever change too much."


	2. Chapter 2

I was with Shinohara and Juuzou when they were called in to help defend the ghoul prison. I was supposed to have the day off, but I wanted to be there when Juuzou finally got his long-awaited new quinque. Fortunately, I had learned from the Rabbit incident to never leave my apartment without a quinque, so I was well-enough prepared.

I was somewhat worried when Juuzou left, because my instincts always told me that "strength in numbers" was true. Shinohara tried to reassure me with what I already knew: Juuzou was a force to be reckoned with in battle. But he was still my friend and I still wanted him to be safe.

So I shadowed Shinohara the entire time until he ran into a dark-haired ghoul with a black mask covering only the bottom half of his face. He seemed like he was wearing almost too-much clothing. But then again, I thought the entire CCG wearing suits to battle also seemed pretty ridiculous. I was glad I was wearing a comfy T-shirt and leggings. I did wish I had been wearing my ankle boots—I always felt more badass wearing them. And flower-y knock-off converse shoes weren't exactly intimidating. Nor did they give me much more traction than a pair of sandals. So on second thought, the ghoul was probably dressed more appropriately for a fight than any of us.

"Marek-san," Shinohara's voice boomed, catching my attention. My last name always sounded so strange pronounced with a Japanese accent. That was why I insisted on everyone calling me "Karo," because it was shorter than "Karoline," which was four syllables and didn't sound as strange to me as "Marek." But Shinohara insisted on always being formal, which I sort of understood, but I still wished he would just get over it and make it easier for both of us.

"You stay back," he commanded. "I'll handle this one."

I nodded, but still held my quinque at the ready, just in case. It was a bikaku-type in the shape of a spear. I'm not a bulky person, so a heavy quinque was out of the question, but I could handle a simple spear. I named it "Vorteil."

It was probably a good thing I did not enter the fight. The ghoul had been an ukaku type and I would have been at a disadvantage.

I watched the ghoul's movements during the fight. And I saw his face when Shinohara had activated his Arata. He recognized something about that quinque. He fought with some sort of resolve. Maybe he knew the ghoul it had originally belonged to…

He was taken down relatively quickly after the first several attacks. He became more rash with his kagune as he ran out of stamina. And then in one final counter-attack, he was down. I walked toward them, curious as to who the ghoul was and if he was still alive. Shinohara's Arata was still activated as I approached.

Shinohara suddenly ordered me to halt. The ghoul struggled to make it up to a sort of push-up position. He struggled for several seconds. Shinohara readied his quinque to strike him down permanently.

"Wait!" I pleaded desperately, on instinct. I surprised even myself with my outburst. Had what Ken said months ago really softened my resolve so much? I watched this ghoul on the ground attack my partner and superior and I was pleading the man not to kill him?

But I couldn't help it. When I looked at the ghoul closely, I could see that he was even younger than me. That he was in pain. And what I saw was so _human_.

And then he stood up. Terrified that I had made a huge mistake, I tried to get out of Shinohara's way and readied my weapon. But all the ghoul did was bring his fist up, as if to swing a punch, and practically fall back to his knees. But his fist landed lightly on Shinohara's Arata. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he found the strength to lift his head. Even Shinohara faltered when he looked into the ghoul's eyes. His kakugan were unactivated and his eyes were obviously sad and tired. I wanted to cry for him, but I knew I shouldn't and couldn't at the moment.

None of us moved for what felt like an hour but was probably no more than a few seconds. Then, the ghoul fell. No weapons were needed. I knelt down to check his pulse. He was still alive.

"Marek-san," Shinohara boomed. I could sense his disappointment without even looking at him. But I turned my head and met his eyes, which only confirmed my sense of dread as being reasonable. "Do not question my orders ever again." I looked away from him, averting my eyes instead to the youngest person in the room—the unconscious ghoul.

"Yes sir," I agreed. Indeed, I had no intention of crossing him again. I knew he was a good person, but he was serious when it came to ghouls. And I had seen the way he fights. I never wanted to be on the receiving end of his blade.

But at the same time, I knew he was wrong. I knew everyone was wrong. Ghouls weren't monsters. They were just like us. We take away their loved ones, so they take ours. I wondered if ghouls were more aware of that than humans.

The loud clanging of metal alerted us that something was coming. I quickly lifted my head to find the source of the noise, but I was too slow and was only aware of feeling the force of something hitting the ground very near me. Then I blacked out.

My head throbbed and I felt like I had just run a marathon when I was able to open my eyes again. I coughed a few times and that helped me get more air into my lungs. It took a little while for my eyes to focus. All while I was recovering my senses, my heart kept beating faster. I was hearing noises, but couldn't make out the causes.

What happened? Was Shinohara still alive? Where did Vorteil go? Did I still have all of my extremities? Was I in danger, still?

I blinked a few more times and my vision cleared. I looked up and at first, I didn't understand what I was seeing. A person with white hair? What were they doing and who were they?

Then I realized it was a ghoul. And when I took in their kagune, I was frightened. What the hell kind of ghoul has kagune that looked like centipedes growing from their backs? They were huge. And…he had _six_ kagune sticking out of his back. I had never fought a ghoul with more than _two_. I had never _encountered _a ghoul with more than two kagune.

For the second time in my life, I was so terrified that I couldn't move. What happens when it notices me? Will it kill me before it eats me?

_CRUNCH_

My eyes were drawn to what I hadn't noticed before then. Something was underneath the ghoul—something it was eating. I must have made some sort of noise when I recognized the unconscious Shinohara because the ghoul turned around to look at me. It had a strange sort of mask that hooked like some sort of a beak and only covered one eye. The other eye didn't have a kakugan activated.

At the moment, I didn't care why it only had one kakugan, because it charged at me. I noticed that Vorteil was close and lunged for it, but didn't make it in time to avoid the ghoul. I was pinned down, the ghoul stared down at me and gave me a crazed, blood-stained smile. It gave me the chance to take in all of the ghoul's features.

I opened my mouth and at first, no sound came out. I was vaguely aware of the room starting to fill with gas.

I knew this ghoul. The hair and entire demeanor had changed, but I recognized his face and smell.

"Ken," I finally choked out. I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks. The ghoul froze in place and his smile dropped. It was when my breathing started to return to normal that I realized I had been hyperventilating.

"Ka…ro..san," the ghoul croaked hoarsely. I slowly reached up to touch the beak-mask. It was smoother than I thought it'd be. I let out a shaky breath and laughed nervously.

"This is _not _how I imagined being underneath you would be like…" It was probably the adrenaline that allowed that line to slip past my lips. Later, I would be mortified at what I had said, but at the moment, I didn't give a shit.

Ken stared at me, probably shocked by what I had said, and his mask started to crumble. I watched as tears filled his eyes and spilled onto his cheeks. When the mask began to disintegrate in my hand, I moved both to his cheeks to wipe away the tears.

His hand caught my wrists and I noticed that his nails were black, though they didn't shine from paint. The mask was still crumbling when there was a sudden gust of wind and Kaneki Ken was tossed across the room.

I looked up to see Koutarou Amon looking furious and Mado Akira leaning on the wall behind him, looking anxious. Koutarou ran to the other side of the room, totally focused on Ken. He was shouting something at him that I wasn't listening to. I watched Ken rise onto his hands and knees, head bowed. I knew he was still crying.

And then he was taken away again. At least this time, I knew I would see him again.


End file.
